Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping are meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held their first official meeting in five years. It’s a sign that relations frozen after deadly military clashes in 2020 are thawing.
The Indian government and Chinese state media said the two leaders met on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, on Wednesday.
The meeting comes days after the two countries agreed to resolve a four-year military standoff on their disputed Himalayan border.
President Xi and Prime Minister Modi shook hands against a backdrop of national flags and emphasized the importance of resolving the dispute.
The Chinese leader said the two countries are at an important stage of development and “must carefully deal with differences and disagreements and promote the pursuit of each other’s development aspirations.”
“It is important for both sides to shoulder their international responsibilities and set an example for enhancing the strength and unity of developing countries, thereby contributing to promoting multipolarization and democracy in international relations,” Xi said.
Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Misri said, “The two leaders are confident that a stable, predictable and friendly bilateral relationship between India and China, two neighbors and the two largest countries on Earth, will have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity. “I confirmed this,” he said. Reporters after the meeting.
In 2020, 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed in clashes along the largely unmarked Ladakh border in the western Himalayas.
As a result, relations between Beijing and New Delhi have become strained, and both sides have stepped up their military presence along the border.
Prime Minister Modi and President Xi have attended several multilateral events but have not held formal talks. The last summit between the two leaders was held in the southern Indian town of Mamallapuram in October 2019.
The two spoke briefly on the phone at the G20 summit held in Bali in November 2022, and again on the phone at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August last year.
Xi Jinping did not attend the G20 summit held in New Delhi next month, which appears to have been another setback in relations between the two countries.
Diplomatic efforts have gained momentum in recent months since the two countries’ foreign ministers met in July and agreed to step up talks to ease border tensions.
The standoff has led New Delhi to step up scrutiny of investments coming from China, block direct flights between the two countries and issue few visas to Chinese nationals.
The agreement was reached this week regarding military patrols along the border. But Tuesday’s announcement did not explain whether it included the length of the border or just the points where clashes occurred in 2020.
Border tensions are a thorny issue between Beijing and New Delhi. China considers the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh in eastern India as part of Tibet and claims sovereignty over it, and the two countries fought a border war in 1962.
